Presentation of Brest

Brest (200,000 inhabitants, including seven
neighbouring municipalities included in the communauté urbaine of
Brest) is located on the northern shore of the rade de Brest
(Brest harbour), which is in fact a deep inland sea (150 sq. km)
linked to Atlantic Ocean only by a narrow bottleneck (goulet de
Brest). Brest has been and still is a very important military
port.

The fortress of Brest was mentioned for the first time in the 11th
century. In 1395, King of France Charles VI managed to make the King
of England return Brest to the (then independent)
Duchy of Brittany.
The military port of Brest was created for the Royal Navy in 1631 by
Richelieu (1585-1642), Louis XIII's main minister. Under Colbert
(1619-1683), who was appointed (inter alia) State Secretary of
Navy by King Louis XIV in 1669, Brest became the most important
French military port. Colbert created in Brest the Register of
Sailors (Inscription maritime, still in use), and schools of
naval guards, gunners, hydrographers and marine engineers. The
vessels of Colbert's era could reach 5,000 tons and be armed with 120
big cannons. Bows and sterns of these vessels were decorated by local
craftsmen but also by official artists such as the sculptor Coysevox
(1640-1720, one of Louis XIV's official portraitists). Admiral
Duquesne (1610-1688) improved the walls of the town of Brest and
fortified the bottleneck. In 1683, the defence system of Brest was
completed by Vauban (1633-1707), appointed in 1678 General
Commissionner for Fortifications. In 1694, the last attempt of
Anglo-Dutch invasion was stopped on the Camaret peninsula by Vauban.
Between 1740 and 1790, Choquet de Lindu built the arsenal. From 1777
onwards, Brest was the main port from which vessels and troops were
sent to Northern America and contributed to the American independence.

In June 1940, both commercial and military ports of Brest were
abandoned by the Allied forces, who destroyed the bridges and other
facilities which could have been used by the Germans. However, a
reinforced concrete shelter for submarines was constructed in Lanilon
by the Germans, who used it as their main basis for the attack of Allied
convoys in the Atlantic Ocean. Brest was heavily bombed during the
war, but the shelter could not be destroyed, and is still used by the
French Navy. In September 1944, the American troops eventually seized
the city after a 43 day siege. Brest was totally ruined. The city was
rapidly rebuilt using a geometrical plan centered around rue de
Siam, the most important street of the ancient city. The street
got its name from the embassy sent to Louis XIV by the King of Siam,
which was welcomed in Brest.
Most of the French Atlantic Fleet is now stationed in Brest,
including the nuclear-powered carrier Charles-de-Gaulle,
achieved in 1999 in Brest shipyard. The French Naval School (École
Navale), located in Brest from 1830 to 1940, was rebuilt in 1961
in Lanvéoc-Poulmic, on the southern shore of the Brest
harbour. Close to the Naval School, the nuclear-powered submarines
have been based in Île-Longue since 1968. The Maritime Prefecture
(Admiralty) of Brest is housed in the castle, which is one of the
single remains of the ancient town.

Brest organizes every four year an international meeting of old
sailing ships (vieux gréements). The first meeting took
place in 1996, and the next one, Brest 2000, attracted more
than 1.5 millions of visitors. The marina of Brest (port du
Moulin-Blanc) is the base of famous yachtmen/women such as Olivier
de Kersauzon and Florence Arthaud.
A scientific campus was established in the north of the town
(University of Western Brittany, 1968; Technôpole
Brest-Iroise). Oceanopolis, a scientific and cultural
center dedicated to sea and oceans was opened in 1990 close to the
marine. However, economical activity of Brest is mostly linked to
miltary activity (Navy and aeronautics industry). The attempt to
develop in Brest an oil port resulted in limited success.

The shady atmosphere of the port of Brest has been highlighted in
several artistic works.Tonnerre de Brest (Brest thunder), one of the prefered Captain
Haddock's swearword, refers to the cannon shot which signalled in the
past the escape of a prisonner from the Brest fortress. A cannon shot
is nowadays used to give the start of a regatta.Querelle de Brest, a novel by the nefarious French writer Jean
Genet (1910-1986), with film adaptation by Rainer Werner Fassbinder,
takes place in Recouvrance, the seamen's neighborhood of
Brest.
The movie Remorques (Towropes) by Jean Grémillon, starring
Jean Gabin, was shot in Brest (1939).

The 1940-1944 tragedy in Brest was magnified by the French writer
Jacques Prévert (1900-1977) in his poem Barbara:Rappelle-toi Barbara
Il pleuvait sans cesse sur Brest ce jour-l&agrave
(Remember Barbara
It hadn't stop raining over Brest on that day)
[...]Au loin très loin de Brest
Dont il ne reste rien.
(Far, very far away from Brest,
Of which nothing remains.)
[After the war, the poet remembers a woman he cought a glimpse of
under the rain in rue de Siam before the war. The only thing he knows
about her is her name and he wonders, under the rain in the ruins of
Brest, what might have happened to her.]

Brest is the birth town of the writer Henri Queffélec
(1910-1992), considered as one of the best Breton novelists and poets.
However, his style and the depth of his writings make of him much
more than a regional writer, even if he wrote mostly on regional
thematics, basically the life of Bretons on the coasts or on the
islands (Sein, Molène and Ushant). His son Yann is also a
novelist and her daughter Anne is a pianist of international renown.

The crown-shaped cake called paris-brest, a classic of
French pastry, got its name from a cyclist race between Paris and
Brest. In 1891, a pastrycook created this cake whose shape reminds a
bicycle tyre. The name and the place of residence of the pastrycook
remain controversial. However, the cake became so famous that a
patent application for the name and recipe of paris-brest was
rejected in 1930.

Municipal flag of Brest

According to P. Rault (Les drapeaux bretons de 1188 à
nos jours[rau98]), the flag currently in use in Brest is a banner of the municipal arms, parti de France et de Bretagne (per pale France and
Brittany). The arms are dated 1696 and were "stolen" by Brest to the
neighbouring city of Lesneven.

Ivan Sache, 13 January 2002

Historical flags of Brest

Oldest reported Brest flag - Image by Ivan Sache, 13 January 2002

The first reported flag "of" Brest is a 3:4 white flag with a
black cross. Gustave Desjardins noticed it on an old portolano,
associated with Brest and believed it was an ancient flag of the town.
However, this flag is more probably the Breton
Kroazh-Du (Black Cross), which was placed
on the portolano to represent Brittany.

Flag of Brest, 15th century - Image by Ivan Sache, 13 January 2002

In the 15th century, the flag of Brest was the black cross flag
with a red vertical stripe placed along the fly. This flag was
reported by G. Pasch to P. Rault (letter dated 1 July 1978). The
meaning of the red stripe is unknown.

Flag of Brest, 16th century - Image by Ivan Sache, 13 January 2002

In the 16th century, an ermine spot was added in each quarter of
the flag. This flag is shown on an anonymous portolano kept in the
French National Library.

Flag of Brest, 18th century - Image by Ivan Sache, 13 January 2002

In the 18th century, the red stripe was suppressed and the
black cross was voided througout (that is, a white cross was
placed over the black one).

Source: P. Rault (op. cit.)

Ivan Sache, 13 January 2002

Pennant of La Belle Cordelière

Pennant of La Belle Cordelière - Image by Ivan Sache, 13 January 2002

On 10 August 1513 (St. Lawrence's Day), an English fleet sailed to attack Brest.
The Breton fleet rushed out from Brest, led by the flagship
La Belle Cordelière. This vessel had
just been offered by Duchess Ann of
Brittany, and 300 distinguished guests were dancing on board.
When it appeared that La Belle Cordelière would be
lost, her commander Hervé de Primauguet exhorted his crew and
guests to have a bel morir and told them: "We shall celebrate
St. Lawrence, who perished by fire". La Belle
Cordelière and her English opponent The Regent blew
up together.
According to P. Rault (op. cit.), the masthead pennant flown by La Belle Cordelière was a narrow, forked white pennant with the Breton
black cross.

Ivan Sache, 13 January 2002

Sports clubs

Stade Brestois (football club)

In 2004, FC Nantes-Atlantique played in the French Cup (last 32) against Stade
Brestois, the main team from Brest. The colours of
Stade Brestois are red and white, and the supporters of the club used
white-and-red versions of the Gwen-ha-Du flag (with red stripes and ermine spots).

Ivan Sache, 28 February 2004

Club de Voile de l'École Navale - Ailée (yacht club)

Club de la Voile de l'École Navale - Ailée is the yacht club of the Naval School in Brest. Ailée means winged.
The burgee of the yacht club is
vertically divided blue-red with a white oval in the middle charged
with a blue sailing ship from the Marine Royale; the ship seems to
have prominent, exagerated yards, which might be kinds of "wings". The
burgee is also divided by a white horizontal stripe with ECOLE and
NAVALE in blue flanking the oval.

Société des Régates de Brest (yacht club)

Flag of SRB - Image by Ivan Sache, 19 August 2002

Société des Régates de Brest (SRB, website), founded on 17 May 1847 by a former Mayor of Brest, Pierre le Grandais, is one of the world's oldest yacht clubs still active. Patroned by the Prince of Joinville, the son of King Louis-Philippe, the SRB organized its first sailing and rowing regattas on 30 July 1847. Suppressed after the 1848
Revolution, the yacht club was reconstituted in 1865 as the Société des Régates Brestoises. Suppressed again in 1870 because of the Franco-Prussian War, the club was refounded once again in 1876, restoring its original name. The same year, the club organized for the first time a nautic festival in the Port of Commerce, which was the first step towards the modern festivals organized every four years (from "Brest (19)92" to "Brest 2008").
In 1882, the club, presided by Rear Admiral Réveillère (1829-1908, also known as an autarchist philiosoph and regionalist writer), was reorganized by the municipality of Brest and the the Brest Horse-
Racing Society. The merging in 1902 with the Société Nautique
Brestoise increased membership of the SRB, which organized very famous
regattas during the interbellum.

In 1946, the SRB reemerged from the ruins of Brest. On 2 August 1958,
the club organized the first French regatta for training sailboats.
The same year, some members left the club and founded Yacht Club de la Rade de Brest.
In 1970, the SRB moved to the Moulin Blanc marina, created in
1961 by the municipality of Brest; the club organized there in 1973
the prestigious Finn Gold Cup, won by the Olympic gold medalist (1972)
Serge Maury.
The SRB members have won several medals in national and international
competitions; the SRB was 3rd in 2001 and 1st in 2003 in the French
clubs' ranking. In 1988, club members Jean-Yves Le Déroff and Nicolas Hénard won the gold medal in the "Tornado" series in the Seoul Olympic Games. Carole Reitzer won in 1991 the World Championship in the "Europe" series. In 1999, Benît Petit and Jean-François Cuzon won the World Championship in both the "470" and "Fireball" series.

D. Kervella and M. Bodlore-Penlaez (Guide des drapeaux bretons et
celtes) show the flag of the SRB as white with a blue saltire
cantonned by four black ermine spots. Not shown anywhere on the club
website, this flag is confirmed by a photo taken in August 2008 during a youth yachting competition held in Brest.

Ivan Sache, 17 October 2010

Yacht Club de la Rade de Brest (yacht club)

Burgee of YCRB - Image by Ivan Sache, 19 August 2002

The burgee of YCRB is horizontally
divided blue-red with a white triangle charged with a black ermine spot
placed along the hoist.